


What Saskia Sees

by getyourfaceoutofmyface



Category: Unter Uns
Genre: Fluff, M/M, ringsy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 06:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14491113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/getyourfaceoutofmyface/pseuds/getyourfaceoutofmyface
Summary: No one knows how much Saskia watches or how much she sees.





	What Saskia Sees

Saskia was invisible, so much so she wondered if she had a super power of some sort that she was letting go to waste. It’s always been that way for her. She knew she wasn’t anything remarkable, which could be viewed as good or bad depending on the day. She could be standing in a crowd or in a corner all alone and no one ever saw her. I mean not unless they were looking for her. Unfortunately that didn’t happen too often.

But mostly Saskia liked being alone and she liked watching people so being able to blend into the environment with ease helped make that possible. She’d sit in cafes or on park benches and make up stories about the people she watched. Stories about where they were going, where they’d bought those shoes, who they were heading to, whose arms they missed, she had a library in her brain of people and lives they lived. Lives all the more fascinating than her own ever had been.

When she moved into the building she was more visible to others for the first time simply due to her brother and their connection. Yet no one realized how much she watched, how much she saw and what it taught her.

She watched Paco the most at first. She felt that as his sister there were things she needed to know, things she should already know about him that she didn’t. They weren’t raised together so the second nature of siblings that even Tobias and Ringo had was missing. She felt robbed and insisted on making up for lost time.

She learned a lot by watching him. She could tell by the subtle squint of his eyes when he was annoyed or confused or just plain frustrated. She knew he tilted his head marginally when he was lying. She knew his fake laugh, his polite laugh and his real laugh. When she finally felt like she had her brother clear in her mind it filled her with a sense of belonging she’d never had before.

Ellie was so simple. She wore everything right on her face, reading her wasn’t hard. Plus she’s just so pretty that Saskia worked diligently to not be jealous but the envy crept up sometimes. Still she was a great friend and she openly adored Paco and she cared about her husband’s sister genuinely, which warmed Saskia’s heart.

Easy was just, well easy. Saskia loves how genuine he is. She just always feels she can be 100% her weird self with him and he gets it, he acted like she was a joy to be around. It was clearly a gift he had with all people but it still made you feel special. Plus with Easy there was never anything he was trying to hide. He is who he is, take or leave it and it’s refreshing.

Ringo however had always been an enigma. He was so closed off, his eyes shuttered. The key was you had to watch the slight changes in his stance, the barely noticeable quiver of his chin or the upward tilt of his head to even get a vague idea of what he was thinking. From there you had to analyze where he’d placed his hands. Were they in his pockets? We’re they straightening a jacket lapel that never needed straightening? Were they in a bowl of some sort of food and if so what type of food? Sweet meant one thing and salty meant something entirely different.

Saskia still felt a kinship for him. She knew what it was like to be misunderstood. People thought all she was a romantic sap with her head in the clouds, everyone thought Ringo was just an asshole. Everyone was wrong on both counts. Then she’d started noticing some changes in Ringo that she couldn’t put her finger on. He seemed agitated, confused, maybe even angry?

Yes everyone always thought Ringo was angry, but he wasn’t, not really. He was just analyzing, going over scenarios and working out how to use them in his favour. When he did that his eyes got pointed, and it looked like anger to others but Saskia knew better. Now though it seemed like real actual simmering rage and frustration, and it didn’t seem aimed at anyone else, it was like he was mad at himself. He was always clutching his hands rhythmically or pointing his chin down as he spoke, very unlike the Ringo she knew, or at least the one he showed. Anyway she couldn’t put her finger on it and it bothered her, she couldn’t help if she didn’t know what was wrong.

It was when she saw him walk into the church for Paco and Elli’s wedding holding Easy’s hand that it all clicked into place. He had been heartsick and from the smile on his face and the proud tilt of his head he was anything but now.

Saskia barely had time to get used to the new Ringo before it all fell apart. Then it was confusing and sad and she just baked cookies and left them around the apartment for Ringo because she didn’t know what else to do, she just knew a sad Ringo wanted sugar. Kay-C got annoyed with her for leaving treats everywhere in a place she didn’t technically live in but one time she saw Ringo take a cookie on his way to his room and that had felt like a win.

Then he was gone and then he was back the next day and it was good, there was this new Ringo to get to know. Easy’s Ringo. Moving into WG just made it that much easier to watch, to analyze.

There was a new lightness to him. Well not when Tobias was around but thankfully that was slowly getting better. No, there was now an overall softness that came over him whenever Easy was in the room. Saskia hates to admit it to herself but she liked watching Ringo and Easy together. I mean not the “just had sex, walking through the apartment naked, I can hear them moaning through the walls” Ringo and Easy. Ugh, no thank you. She liked the everyday Easy and Ringo that no one else seemed to notice.

Sure anyone could see they were in love, but Saskia saw that it was so much more than that.

Like when Ringo came home frustrated one day about something. She was about to walk down the stairs and he was standing in kitchen, head down, fingers splayed on the counter, his arms holding him up under the weight of whatever was eating at him. She knew to stay away, Ringo did not show weakness in front of others dare they notice he’s actually human. She started backing up to her room when Easy walked through the door.

He went straight to Ringo, wrapping his arms around him and pressing his cheek into Ringo’s back. Saskia saw the weight lift. Ringo took a deep breath, his back straightened and he turned to take Easy into his embrace and tuck him under his chin.

Then he sighed. Not one of annoyance or frustration but of relief and peacefulness. He looked like a totally different man then he had just two minutes before. The couple started taking in whispered tones and she made her exit. She might watch people but she wasn’t nosy by any means. When she found out later from Elli that it was the anniversary of Ringo’s parents death she might have allowed herself to cry a tear or two.

One night she was happy to have the apartment to herself because her favourite cheesy reality dating show was on. She was in her comfiest clothes with a big bowl of popcorn in her lap when Ringo walked into the apartment. Her mood deflated. She couldn’t watch with Ringo home. He always mocked her and the show. Sure Saskia watched it because it was ridiculous but she didn’t like being made to feel ridiculous because she watched it.

He plopped down on the couch and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

“Do you mind if Easy and I hang out and watch your show with you? He says it’s hilarious but Tobias refuses to let him put it on.”

Saskia was so shocked she didn’t even realize she responded to the affirmative until after a Ringo pulled out his phone, clearly sending a text to Easy who walked in with a bottle of wine in his hand maybe 30 seconds later. She moved so the men could have the bigger couch and they settled in. It was the most fun she’d had in ages. Red wine, buttery popcorn, a guilty pleasure on TV and friends to share it with.

Easy and her discussed which girl should win and Ringo went on a hilarious rant about how the host was clearly a puppet master, pulling the strings and causing drama.

She’d never seen him so relaxed.

Ringo and Easy were leaning on opposite sides of the couch from each other, but had their arms draped over the top with their fingers interlocked where their hands met in the middle. She could see out of the corner of her eye Ringo’s thumb massaging against Easy’s, could see the adoring glances they gave each when the other wasn’t looking, they way they’d communicate with each other somehow by just locking eyes.

It was like this was who Ringo was under all the facade and control he liked to show. He looked like he felt, and it looked like he felt safe. Later that night after too much wine Saskia made her way to bed, wondering what that felt like, to be comfortable enough with someone to just be yourself. She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt that safe. She was taken aback the next day when Ringo asked her to make cookies for their next viewing party, which ended up becoming an unspoken weekly ritual between the three of them.

Ringo funnily enough ended up being the most upset on finale night when their collective top pick didn’t get the diamond engagement ring. Easy had to calm him down by snuggling into his boyfriend and placing a kiss on his cheek.

As the weeks passed the more she saw how Ringo and Easy were exactly like the couples she read in books that made her sigh. It was not just about passion and romance or even love. No that’s not why she shut out the rest of the world with her nose pressed into the pages. It was how the right person made you better, made you happier, made you more yourself because they accepted and loved every little part of you. They saw you, really saw you, you were no longer invisible.

Saskia even noticed a change in Easy, who now seemed even more confidant and sure of himself. He was less wishy washy, less led around by people, namely Tobias, and seemed to know even more who he was and what he wanted. He shined whenever Ringo was around, his boyfriend always needing to touch him, have his arm around his chair, or his hand on his leg. He said less deprecating things about himself because when he did his boyfriend would give him a sharp look or a soft kiss, both seemingly having the same effect.

Saskia wanted that. She wanted someone to fix her plate of food before they did their own like Ringo did for Easy. She wanted someone who picked up her favourite face cream at the store because they noticed she was running low like Easy did for Ringo. She wanted someone to take care of, someone to take care of her. She wanted desperately to be seen by someone.

All these thoughts and longings had her in the kitchen, apron covered in flour, while she kneaded dough with pent up frustration, surrounded by cookies left to cool from the oven on racks covering every inch of the kitchen’s countertop.

Paco, Ringo and Tobias came in, disrupting her peace and contemplation and sat around the dinner table.

“Saskia we need to find you a man to enjoy all your delicious cooking.”

She whipped her head to give her brother her best death glare until he held his hands up in surrender.

“Okay, but I know a few guys I could set you up with if you’re ever interested.”

Saskia opened her mouth to say something, preferably cutting and tell Paco to mind his own business but Ringo spoke first. What he said almost knocked her over.

“Paco there is no way any of us know someone worthy of our Saskia.”

Paco laughed playfully and started doing something on his phone, getting up and heading to his bedroom with it pressed to his ear. Saskia raised her eyebrow to Ringo as he snagged a cookie off the counter. Then he casually leaned on the counter beside her and whispered, “You’re not the only one who watches.” Then he took a bite of his cookie, gave her a wink and sauntered away up the stairs.

She couldn’t help but stare at her hands in the dough, feeling happy that maybe she wasn’t invisible anymore, at least not all the time. It was a start at least. She began to hum contentedly as she continued rolling out the dough for apple pie, Elli’s favourite.

But this time the woman that watched everything and noticed everyone missed something, which was completely unlike her. Tobias was leaning on the table, head on his palm, looking at her, tilting his head like he did when he was intrigued and a little surprised. If you’d asked him now it was like he was seeing Saskia for the first time. Or maybe, he thought, it was the first time he was actually looking for her, trying to understand the secret behind her small smile as she hummed in contentment.

What Tobias didn’t know then was when you started looking at Saskia, really looking at her, well it became very hard to stop, but he’d realize that soon enough.


End file.
